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Edward Snowden flees Hong Kong for Moscow — next stop Ecuador

Surveillance secrets leaker Edward Snowden eludes attempts by U.S. to secure extradition on charges of espionage and creates diplomatic and media frenzy in Moscow.

Journalists at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport Sunday show an iPad with the picture of U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden to passengers of a flight from Hong Kong, trying to find out if Snowden was aboard the plane.
(SERGEI KARPUKHIN / REUTERS)

MOSCOW—Late Sunday morning, Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor on the run for leaking American surveillance secrets, emerged from his Hong Kong hideaway and boarded a six-hour flight bound for Moscow.

By the time Aeroflot SU213 landed at Sheremetyevo airport five minutes ahead of schedule at 5:05 p.m., whatever furtiveness Snowden had achieved after two weeks underground in Asia was starting to fade.

Hong Kong’s government announced Sunday that Snowden, an American citizen, had legally exited the city, eluding a weeks-long attempt by the United States to secure an extradition warrant on charges of espionage, theft and conversion of government property. The U.S. State Department said it had revoked Snowden’s passport before he left Hong Kong — but the message either did not reach local authorities in time or had little effect.

WikiLeaks — the whistle-blowing organization aiding Snowden since he leaked classified documents about American intelligence programs earlier this month — said in a statement the 30-year-old is headed to Ecuador “for the purposes of asylum” along with “diplomats and legal advisers,” including a confidante of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Ricardo Patino Aroca, Ecuador’s foreign minister, confirmed on Twitter that the South American country has received a request from Snowden for political asylum.

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Snowden’s exact whereabouts in Moscow were unknown late Sunday but the Russian news agency Interfax quoted an Aeroflot source as saying he would spend the night in an airport “capsule” hotel, unable to leave because he does not have a visa permitting him to enter Russia.

So, after his arrival, with the international escape on hold, a game of cat-and-mouse materialized as reporters flitted from gate to gate searching for the fugitive. Some bought plane tickets to move freely beyond airport security. Some decamped to the Ecuadorian embassy; others went to the Venezuelan embassy, as Caracas was reported early on as a possible final destination.

At the Terminal F arrivals bay, passengers from the Hong Kong flight fought through a crush of reporters, shaking their heads in confusion at a picture of a goateed Snowden displayed on a Russian journalist’s iPad.

Alexander Duenkov, who told the Star he flies Aeroflot’s Moscow-Hong Kong route at least three times a year, did not see Snowden on board but said Sunday’s arrival was unusual in that it stopped on the tarmac instead of directly at the gate. Duenkov recalled seeing two black minivans parked on the tarmac.

With no direct flights from Moscow to Quito, Snowden is expected to fly straight to Havana, Cuba, on Monday, leaving at 2:05 p.m., according to an Aeroflot source quoted by Russian state news agency ITAR-Tass. It remained unclear where he will go next, with Interfax reporting he would hop to Venezuela, an American antagonist in the region and a close Cuban ally.

Ecuador, which has long been critical of American foreign policy in Latin America, but has an extradition treaty with the U.S., has provided haven for Assange at its embassy in London for the past year. Aroca met with Assange last week, though it is unclear if they discussed Snowden.

Meanwhile, American officials offered sweeping condemnations of Snowden’s actions and the countries involved in his flight. NSA director General Keith Alexander called Snowden “an individual who is not acting, in my opinion, with noble intent.”

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he “always seems almost eager to stick a finger in the eye of the United States, whether it is Syria, Iran and now, of course, with Snowden.”

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